Michael Moore, Asking: Mr. Bush: Where We At?

9/22/04

Dear Mr. Bush,

I am so confused. Where exactly do you stand on the issue of Iraq? You,
your Dad, Rummy, Condi, Colin, and Wolfie -- you have all changed your
minds so many times, I am out of breath just trying to keep up with you!

Which of these 10 positions that you, your family and your cabinet have
taken over the years represents your CURRENT thinking:

1983-88: WE LOVE SADDAM. On December 19, 1983, Donald Rumsfeld was sent
by your dad and Mr. Reagan to go and have a friendly meeting with Saddam
Hussein, the dictator of Iraq. Rummy looked so happy in the picture.
Just twelve days after this visit, Saddam gassed thousands of Iranian
troops. Your dad and Rummy seemed pretty happy with the results because
The Donald R. went back to have another chummy hang-out with Saddams
right-hand man, Tariq Aziz, just four months later. All of this resulted
in the U.S. providing credits and loans to Iraq that enabled Saddam to
buy billions of dollars worth of weapons and chemical agents. The
Washington Post reported that your dad and Reagan let it be known to
their Arab allies that the Reagan/Bush administration wanted Iraq to win
its war with Iran and anyone who helped Saddam accomplish this was a
friend of ours.

1990: WE HATE SADDAM. In 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait, your dad and
his defense secretary, Dick Cheney, decided they didn't like Saddam
anymore so they attacked Iraq and returned Kuwait to its rightful
dictators.

1991: WE WANT SADDAM TO LIVE. After the war, your dad and Cheney and
Colin Powell told the Shiites to rise up against Saddam and we would
support them. So they rose up. But then we changed our minds. When the
Shiites rose up against Saddam, the Bush inner circle changed its mind
and decided NOT to help the Shiites. Thus, they were massacred by
Saddam.

1998: WE WANT SADDAM TO DIE. In 1998, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others, as
part of the Project for the New American Century, wrote an open letter
to President Clinton insisting he invade and topple Saddam Hussein.

2000: WE DON'T BELIEVE IN WAR AND NATION BUILDING. Just three years
later, during your debate with Al Gore in the 2000 election, when asked
by the moderator Jim Lehrer where you stood when it came to using force
for regime change, you turned out to be a downright pacifist:

I--I would take the use of force very seriously. I would be guarded in
my approach. I don't think we can be all things to all people in the
world. I think we've got to be very careful when we commit our troops.
The vice president [Al Gore] and I have a disagreement about the use of
troops. He believes in nation building. I--I would be very careful about
using our troops as nation builders. I believe the role of the military
is to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in
the first place. And so I take my--I take my--my responsibility
seriously. --October 3, 2000

2001 (early): WE DON'T BELIEVE SADDAM IS A THREAT. When you took office
in 2001, you sent your Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and your
National Security Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, in front of the cameras to
assure the American people they need not worry about Saddam Hussein.
Here is what they said:

Powell: We should constantly be reviewing our policies, constantly be
looking at those sanctions to make sure that they have directed that
purpose. That purpose is every bit as important now as it was 10 years
ago when we began it. And frankly, they have worked. He has not
developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass
destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his
neighbors. --February 24, 2001

Rice: But in terms of Saddam Hussein being there, let's remember that
his country is divided, in effect. He does not control the northern part
of his country. We are able to keep arms from him. His military forces
have not been rebuilt. --July 29, 2001

2001 (late): WE BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US! Just a few months
later, in the hours and days after the 9/11 tragedy, you had no interest
in going after Osama bin Laden. You wanted only to bomb Iraq and kill
Saddam and you then told all of America we were under imminent threat
because weapons of mass destruction were coming our way. You led the
American people to believe that Saddam had something to do with Osama
and 9/11. Without the UN's sanction, you broke international law and
invaded Iraq.

2003: WE DONT BELIEVE SADDAM IS GOING TO KILL US. After no WMDs were
found, you changed your mind about why you said we needed to invade,
coming up with a brand new after-the-fact reason -- we started this war
so we could have regime change, liberate Iraq and give the Iraqis
democracy!

2004: OOPS. MISSION NOT ACCOMPLISHED! Now you call the Iraq invasion a
"catastrophic success." That's what you called it this month. Over a
thousand U.S. soldiers have died, Iraq is in a state of total chaos
where no one is safe, and you have no clue how to get us out of there.

Mr. Bush, please tell us -- when will you change your mind again?

I know you hate the words "flip" and "flop," so I won't use them both on
you. In fact, I'll use just one: Flop. That is what you are. A huge,
colossal flop. The war is a flop, your advisors and the "intelligence"
they gave you is a flop, and now we are all a flop to the rest of the
world. Flop. Flop. Flop.

And you have the audacity to criticize John Kerry with what you call the
"many positions" he has taken on Iraq. By my count, he has taken only
one: He believed you. That was his position. You told him and the rest
of congress that Saddam had WMDs. So he -- and the vast majority of
Americans, even those who didn't vote for you -- believed you. You see,
Americans, like John Kerry, want to live in a country where they can
believe their president.

That was the one, single position John Kerry took. He didn't support the
war, he supported YOU. And YOU let him and this great country down. And
that is why tens of millions can't wait to get to the polls on Election
Day -- to remove a major, catastrophic flop from our dear, beloved White
House -- to stop all the flipping you and your men have done, flipping
us and the rest of the world off.